Honda returns to Detroit having swept both races of the doubleheader weekend in 2017. Graham Rahal led a 1-2-3 Honda result in Saturday’s opening race, with Scott Dixon and James Hinchcliffe completing the podium positions in second and third, respectively.

Rahal completed his sweep of the weekend by taking his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda to victory in the second race on Sunday, leading all but three of the 70 laps to become the first Indy car driver to take victories in both rounds of the Dual in Detroit.

Honda drivers and teams have won 12 times in 21 Indy car races on the Belle Isle Park temporary circuit. Alex Zanardi scored Honda’s first win in Detroit in 1998, en route to his second consecutive drivers’ championship.

On the strength of two race wins and 12 (out of a possible 18) podium finishes in six races this season, Honda holds a 41-point lead in the IndyCar Manufacturers’ Championship. After six of 17 races, Honda has 480 points to 449 for Chevrolet.

Sebastien Bourdais led a first- through sixth-place Honda sweep at the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in March. Bourdais was followed to the checkers by Honda drivers Graham Rahal, Alexander Rossi, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Scott Dixon.

Rossi dominated the Grand Prix of Long Beach from the pole for his first victory of the season. Honda drivers claimed five of the top six finishing positions at Long Beach, with Ed Jones taking his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to third; followed by fellow Honda racers Zach Veach, Graham Rahal and Marco Andretti.

The 2018 season marks the seventh year of manufacturer competition in the Verizon IndyCar Series, following six years of Honda serving as single engine supplier from 2006-11. Chevrolet and Honda are again battling for supremacy throughout the 17-race season.

Drivers using Honda engines have won 227 Indy car races and 12 Indianapolis 500s, both during years of multi-manufacturer competition (2004-05, 2012-present); and during Honda’s 2006-11 tenure as single engine supplier to the series.

Heading into this weekend’s Dual in Detroit, Honda drivers hold seven of the top ten positions in the drivers’ championship, led by Rossi in second with 241 points, just two points behind leader Will Power. Dixon is fourth, with 218 points, followed by Hunter-Reay (186 points); Rahal (183), rookie Robert Wickens (178) and Bourdais (168). Hinchcliffe rounds out the top 10 with 144 points.

Since its founding in 1993, Honda Performance Development (HPD), the racing arm of the American Honda Motor Co., Inc., has grown from just a handful of staffers to approximately 150 associates; and from an engine-rebuilding facility, focused on a single racing series, to a complete motorsports Research & Development organization, engaged in programs ranging from the Verizon IndyCar Series and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship to grassroots and entry-level categories including karting and the SCCA Formula 4 Championship.